Another high NY Mets draft pick follows Jarred Kelenic to the unemployment line

It’s rare the New York Mets trade a prospect of any note that has all fans on board regardless of what the return was. Fans were not happy when Jarred Kelenic was a centerpiece ahead of the 2019 season to acquire Edwin Diaz. This complicated trade included taking on Robinson Cano’s salary and dumping some dead weight of their own onto the Seattle Mariners.

Just last week, the Chicago White Sox DFA’d Kelenic. One of the league’s surprise teams had no room for another poor performance on their roster. Sent packing before Memorial Day even arrived, the latest chapter in Kelenic’s saga isn’t one he’ll travel alone.

In the same draft one round later that the Mets took Kelenic, they selected Simeon Woods-Richardson. Not as highly-discussed as Kelenic, Pete Crow-Armstrong, or many other ex-Mets prospects, Woods-Richardson was still a top 100 prospect on some lists and a guy fans wondered about for a few seasons. Although he made it to the majors and has had some success, the Minnesota Twins had seen enough. He was DFA’d over the weekend.

Simeon Woods-Richardson is the latest former Mets prospect to get DFA’d

At the 2019 MLB trade deadline, the Mets held pretty much steady with one exception: they acquired Marcus Stroman.

While simultaneously selling Jason Vargas to the Philadelphia Phillies as a double agent, the Mets traded for Stroman whose early career with the Toronto Blue Jays had him evolving into ace material. This was proposed as an early acquisition in preparation for letting Zack Wheeler walk in free agency. Needless to say, the Mets were far better off keeping Wheeler around as he developed into one of the league’s best starters with the Phillies.

Regardless of how that worked out, the trade itself to land Stroman wasn’t unwise. Fans were a bit outraged at the thought of selling two pitching prospects, Woods-Richardson and the closer to MLB-ready Anthony Kay. Kay never did much at the big league level and a strong showing overseas helped land him a “why not?” contract from the Chicago White Sox. Now 31, he finally looks like a halfway decent back-of-the-rotation arm.

Woods-Richardson landed with the Twins in the same trade that sent Jose Berrios to the Blue Jays. Another debatable trade for the fanbases to contemplate, Woods-Richardson went there alongside Austin Martin who has become a good part-time player for the Twins but not much else.

Any question as to whether or not the Mets were mistaken to move Woods-Richardson have fallen by the wayside. A 4.76 ERA after just over 300 innings, it reached a new low this season with a 7.74 ERA performance to begin 2026. A terrifying 4.7 BB/9 and 4.9 K/9 to start the season, the lack of control and punchouts had the Mets’ patience run thin.

Only halfway through his 20s, SWR (not PCA) is sure to catch on with someone and receive ample time to finally become the player the Mets, Blue Jays, and Twins thought he would become.

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